site.btaBulgaria, Serbia Agree on Expanding Economic Cooperation

Bulgaria, Serbia Agree on Expanding Economic Cooperation

Belgrade, June 1 (BTA) - In Belgrade, Bulgarian Economy Minister
Bozhidar Loukarski and Serbian Energy and Mining Minister
Aleksandar Antic Monday opened the Second Session of the Joint
Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation which they
co-chair, Loukarski's Ministry said in a press release.

"Bulgaria and Serbia have always been fraternal peoples, and in
recent years we did not pay enough attention to economic
cooperation. We have a lot of work to do, and I hope that we
will be able to make progress during these two days," Loukarski
said.

Antic said that the two countries must launch new infrastructure
projects and finish the existing ones. He sees a number of
topics of shared interest, such as the major joint energy and
transport infrastructure projects which are intended to connect
the two countries. "We have a large package of subjects which we
will discuss and which will promote our cooperation," he said.
He stressed that Bulgaria is one of Serbia's large foreign
trading partners, with two-way trade approximating 600 million
euro, and there is a potential to increase this level in future.
In her words, there are also opportunities for joint business
in the tourism industry.

Loukarski said that, apart from these sectors, Bulgaria will
seek to attract investments in priority areas like electronic
and electrical engineering, information technology, outsourcing,
the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, mechanical
engineering, transport and logistics, food processing,
agriculture and health care.

Serbia ranked 16th among Bulgaria's export markets in 2014 and
was the 19th largest import destination. Bilateral trade
increased by 4.41 per cent for January-December 2014 from the
same period of 2013. Exports from Bulgaria contracted by 2.68
per cent, whereas imports from Serbia grew 12.65 per cent. The
trade balance amounted to 62.5 million euro, down from 110.7
million euro for the like period of 2013. Compared to January
2014, the same month a year later saw a 2.6 per cent increase in
trade. Exports rose by 37.67 per cent, whole imports declined
by 28.16 per cent. The trade balance was reported at 12.0
million euro, up from -3.0 million euro for the same month of
2014. LI/LG
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